New Year's at the cemetary?

Strange but true. As I explained in my last entry, bringing in the New Year was always an important celebration for our family, so we brought a bit of the tradition to my parents' and paternal grandparents' grave.

On January 1st Montreal was hit with a snow storm - only 20cm fell, but it was a pretty blustery 20cm. Driving was treacherous so instead of the 40 to 50 guests we usually have for our New Year's feast, were 11 brave (or a little crazy!) souls. All the food pictured in my last entry did NOT go to waste! LOTS of leftovers for everyone ☺

January 2nd's sky was a crisp clear blue. Blue like you can only get on a cold winter day in Montreal. The cemetary looked so pretty covered in freshly fallen snow - and then we traipsed in, ruining it! You can see JF below, starting to shovel the spot around my parents' grave.


You're probably wondering what we brought with us to leave at the cemetary. Below you can see the two white discs and a clementine (tangerine) piled on the wooden marker. These are mochi, or pounded rice cakes that are made and eaten at New Year's by Japanese and Nikkei (people of Japanese descent) around the world. This arrangement is called kagami mochi and the two piled mochi are supposed to symbolize the old and new years; I think the orange is supposed to be the sun (or the moon?). Smaller mochi are eaten in a special soup on New Year's morning, called ozoni. I also love it for breakfast or as a snack - delish! I'm sure the cemetary's resident foxes ate these ones much to the delight of my mom, who was a great animal lover !


And here's me with my tangerine colour jacket - hard to miss me! I was happy to be there ☺

With all that snow, Ebi the cat - my mom's cat - was pretty content to go and sit out on our front balcony. He and our first cat, Chibi, are taking their time learning to live with each other.

We are really happy to have him since it is like having a part of my mom with us; feels like he's really completed our little family. I'll write more about the cats' odd but slowly developing relationship in another entry. Bye for now!

One dollar angel...

My sister and I went to the cemetary this past week-end. It was a swampy mess with all the rain and wet snow we've been getting. There were dozens of seagulls patrolling the grounds, staring down as they walked, waiting for worms. Quite a sight, I wish I had taken a picture. All the Christmas wreaths were still propped up on their stands, most of them artificial, so they were still bright green, the flowers on them very red. A little garish.

Of course, our Mom and Dad's wreath was brown after sitting there for 4 months! Mom would be appalled. She'd say, "If you're going to wait until April to visit then you may as well get us the fake one next time." The little angel we bought to put on their wreath was pretty raggedy and mangey but I thought she withheld the winter quite well considering she was only wearing standard angel gear (thin gown and shawl), and she did just cost a dollar, after all.

So I had to bring her home; I should not even bother asking myself how I end up with so much stuff. Here she is:
A friend of mine told me that often the death of someone close to you becomes a time for personal growth, since you have no choice but to find ways to get yourself through the tough times. Working through all that I guess you find strength and a way to see the good in the sad. My major challenge has been - and still is - to focus on the extraordinary 79 years and 7 months my mother led as a healthy and active woman, and not dwell on her 3 last months when she was in hospital.

I have a sad moment or two every day with regards to my mom, but all in all I am a happy person. So much I want to do, and I'm lucky that I'm doing some of it now. My newest designs have been most satisfying and the least painful to create; maybe I am learning to just do it and not think about it so much. Wouldn't that be something?

My mother was not a religious person, but she believed she had an angel looking out for her when she beat cancer ten years ago; that angel - a positive thought, a prayer, a meditation, a wish, hope - did keep her where she wanted to be. I am going to hang onto this dollar store angel that has been keeping my parents' company for the winter...that is, if I can keep it out of the jaws of my cat...